Emirates Airline UAE National XV’s team narrowly lost their second game in their Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) campaign by a single point on Wednesday as they were defeated 19-20 by hosts Malaysia.

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The UAE side’s aim in the 2015 ARC campaign was to win all 3 matches, which would have clinched the Division 2 trophy and secured promotion to Division 1 for the 2016 ARC.

UAE won their opening game against Thailand 53-22 and now face Chinese Taipei, who also has a win and a loss, on Saturday May 16th in a must-win game if they are to secure 2nd place in Division 2.

UAE National Coach and Performance Manager, Roelof Kotze, said: “We are disappointed with the result against Malaysia and have spent the last two days fixing weaknesses and mistakes in our structures and systems.

“We are aiming to finish strong and come home with a second victory.”

Also commenting on the loss, Qais Al Dhalai, UAE Rugby Federation Secretary General added: “We have mixed emotions, at this point, in our ARC campaign.

“From our resounding win against Thailand we saw that the direction and efforts Coach Roelof and his coaching team (Apollo Perelini and Stephen Thompson) have taken has paid dividends with the players and how they approached the game.

“Unfortunately in our game against Malaysia these efforts were not rewarded. However, we are extremely proud of every member of the team, their attitude, commitment and dedication to playing under the UAE flag.”